Before it's too late!
by Zoraya Windwalker
Summary: Somehow, Damon always is gone too soon, and Elena comes too late.  Will they find the right time, or will they always just be out of each others reach?


I'm here with a oneshot^^.

It wasn't exactly planned, but my lovely beta needed a cheer-up, so I sat my lazy ass down, and wrote her a Delena oneshot *gg*.

So, this is for you, my dear AVECIA (just as the last oneshot was^^)!

I hope you like it.

On with it!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Damon stood outside of the Gilbert house, hidden deep in the shadows.

It had been years since he'd last been back in Mystic Falls. Too many, it seemed. Elena was 24 now, and even more beautiful than he had ever seen her.

And at the moment, she was entertaining a little toddler with the help of that cliché, all American boy. He couldn't quite remember the name – something beginning with ‚_M_', though.

It was bitter, standing here, witnessing how he had _really_ lost her this time.

He fled Mystic Fall right after Katherine herself took off. Elena was still with Stefan, trying everything to mend their relationship, and so he had packed his things and left them to it.

He had been sure that, sooner or later, they would break up; because there was just no way that those two were meant to be together '_forever'_.

So he took his bow, and let her figure out on her own that his brother wasn't _the one_ for her.

He had been a fool though, as usual. To think that Elena would break up with Stefan, and then wait for him to come along and sweep her off her feet.

Now she was a mother, and there was no way in _hell_ he could get her.

With sad eyes he turned around, not bothering to tell her he had been there in the first place. It would be torture for him, witnessing how happy she was now, without him.

If he would've waited a few minutes more, he would've seen the arrival of Caroline, who then kissed her husband and baby-boy hello, apologizing for being late for their weekly dinner with her best friend, and godmother to her child.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

The next time he set a foot into his hometown, he came for the funeral of Bonnie Bennett.

They might have hated each other, but in the end they always had been on the same side, fighting the same enemies, trying to protect the same people.

She didn't die a ripe, old age, the difference between her birth and dying date on the simple stone only a little over 40 years.

There was a husband, and a teenage girl grasping his hand. The man told him that it had been an aneurysm. Nothing anybody could have done to prevent it – Damon had to pretend to be overcome by a sudden coughing fit to hide the bitter grin on his face. Thinking about how that woman had loved to make the blood vessels in his brain burst, it was the worst kind of irony.

He stayed behind as the others attending the funeral drove to Bonnies home to have lunch, and reminisce about the departed. He hadn't planned on attending the lunch, so he had the rest of this day to himself.

He had seen a few familiar faces amongst the crowd, like Jeremy Gilbert, the werewolf, Caroline and _Matt _(the blond woman clinging to him like he was the only thing holding her up_)_, but none of them had gone near him; probably wanting to just ignore his presence.

He wondered where Elena had been, but was kind of glad that she hadn't been there. It would've been more than awkward.

His feet carried him into another part of the cemetery; right to the place he had first seen her.

He knew, then, why Elena hadn't been there to say goodbye to her best friend.

It was because she was already waiting for her on the other side. For there, right beside the headstone of her parents, was one that hadn't been there the last time.

_Elena Gilbert_

_May you never be forgotten_

Other than that, there were only the dates of her birth and death on it.

25. She had died at 25. Not even a year after he had been here the last time. And he never knew; nobody ever had bothered to tell him.

He stood there for hours, not even realizing that the sun climbed up the sky, and then down again.

He only moved as the moon was already high up there, and a cold wind stung on his cheeks, freezing the silent tears that had been running down them.

Damon turned around then, going straight to his car, never once looking back. In that night, he promised himself to never return to this wretched town.

All it ever brought him was pain, heartache and death.

As always, fate was a cruel thing, as he missed the figure of a still youthful-looking Elena making her way to the grave of her best friend.

He never even thought of the possibility that Elena might have been technically dead, but not six feet under.

That she had decided to join the things that roamed the night.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

So, he never had been good at keeping the promises he made to himself.

This time it was the fault of his damn brother. To hold his wedding in this town – he was sure Stefan only did that to torture him.

But his brother wanted him to be the best man, and he couldn't bring himself to deny him.

So he was standing behind him as he promised Katherine – of all people! - forever.

Literally.

He felt kind of strange, the whole evening through. People he once knew as young and full of life were now wrinkled and grey.

Jenna and the teacher were on the dance floor, slowly turning to the sound of some romantic piece.

Jeremy and the werewolf were near the bar, deeply in conversation, and somehow managing to look like teenagers again, mischief brightly lighting up their eyes, even though their hair was mostly grey now.

Caroline still looked beautiful, proud in her nearly 70 years, and Matt stood as tall as ever.

It was still strange, being here.

He never had done this before – he always shied away from making human acquaintances, for exactly that reason. So this was really the first time he got confronted what eternity could mean to him.

As that thought crossed his mind, he somehow couldn't stay in this room for even a moment longer.

He had managed to push the thought of an eternity alone to the back of his mind until now.

He changed the city he stayed in every week, traveling all over the world, always engaging in new, interesting things. Everything to get his mind off of deeper thoughts.

But at night, when he fell asleep, the sight of the gravestone with _her_ name on it haunted him.

Damon had known that he wouldn't live _forever_ - not since the day he first saw that horrible thing. Every time the thoughts of how damn lonely he was all the time (not that he would confess that to _anyone_. Not even under torture!) caught up with him, he knew the time when he would take off his ring and greet the sunrise was crawling nearer.

But not yet.

He had to make sure that his brother really would be happy – he had to make sure that Elena's friends and family would die of old age or sickness and _nothing_ else.

Only then could he go.

He went to tell his brother to have a good honeymoon and '_don't do anything I wouldn't_' and then left again.

It was a much too cheery evening for his tastes.

As he steered his car away from the old boarding house, he saw another one coming up the driveway. A straggler.

He drove around the bend just as the other car came to a stop, and a woman with long hair jumped out of it. She raced inside with obvious vampiric speed. There was something familiar about her, but he didn't pay much attention.

Elena rushed inside, and apologized profusely to the groom and bride. Her flight had been delayed, and she _really_ couldn't have made it any sooner.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Today the last one had been laid to rest.

The teacher had been the first to go, and Jenna had followed him only a few weeks later. A broken heart, they had said.

Next had been Tyler, and two years after him, they had buried Caroline.

Jeremy was gone for three years now, leaving only Matt – and he was gone now, too.

This meant that it was time for him to finally, _finally_ see his last sunrise.

His brother was happy with Katherine, and there was no one left to look after.

He sat in front of _her_ headstone, feeling a sense of peace he hadn't for so long now.

The sky was already beginning to lighten up, so he took off his ring and laid it on the headstone.

He watched as the sun slowly etched over the horizon, painting everything in that eerie, unreal light of early mornings.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind behind him, and he could feel the presence of another vampire.

"You should put that ring of yours back on, you know? I would hate for you to end up a heap of dust when I _finally_ get here on time."

He knew that voice – would recognize it out of hundreds. And the early morning breeze carried her sweet scent to him, making him close his eyes and inhale deeply.

Not daring to look at her at first, he stood up and gathered his bearings before he turned around.

And there she was. Still young, still beautiful – looking not a little bit older than at the night he watched her through her living room window.

There was a new sense – a new understanding of the world – in her eyes, though.

She definitely wasn't as young as she looked. And as he crossed the space between them and gathered her in his arms, he knew he wasn't hallucinating, because under no circumstances could his mind conjure the heavenly feeling of _Elena_ in his arms.

He let go of her soon enough though, thousands of questions running around in his head.

"How…"

Damon shook his head; not able to find the right words, he gesticulated at the headstone behind him.

"Oh yeah, that…Bonnie thought it would be better to let the rest of the town think I died. Made everything easier."

Just as he had gotten his thought in orders, there was a sharp pain on his arm, followed by the smell of burned flesh.

Elena rushed forward, took his ring and slipped it onto a finger of his other hand.

"You're an idiot, why would you _do_ that?"

He wanted to answer her honestly, but then he suddenly grew angry.

"Screw you! That's just… you were a _mother_! I saw you with that little boy and _Matt_.

Then I thought you're dead! There is a damn headstone with your name on it! What did you think I'd do? Walk the earth for eternity, _alone_?"

He threw his hands up, changing from English to Italian, swearing a blue streak.

Elena just rolled her eyes and grabbed his shoulder with one hand, and his chin with the other, forcing him to look at her.

"First of all: you're and idiot – and no I don't care that I just repeated myself. I have _never_ been a mother. The boy you saw had probably been Noah – my _god_son. The son of Matt and _Caroline_.

And if you had bothered to just ask someone, I'm sure they would have told you that I wasn't feeding the worms – that I asked Stefan to turn me, so I can still be here, and young, when you finally decided to stop moping around!"

Then she crashed her lips onto his, ending his protest even before it started.

"And yeah, walking the earth for eternity it a pretty good idea. But not alone… never alone"

He soon had captured her lips into another, fierce kiss, not wanting to let go of her yet.

As they left the cemetery behind, they walked hand in hand - and finally in the same direction.

And somewhere, high up, Bonnie grumbled and frowned, having to listen to Carolines' seemingly endless '_I told you so's_'.

But, rolling her eyes she looked down again, and even Bonnie had to acknowledge that her best friend had never looked happier or more alive than now.

Xoxoxoxo

So, I know that pretty much everyone died in this, but I needed a happy and for Damon and Elena, and NOT for everyone else. Plus, they were all old as they died (well, not Bonnie, but meh, I don't like her, most of the time).

I steered clear of the 'I love you's' but I think it still worked.

Tell me what you think about it, I NEED your reviews!

So long,

Zora.


End file.
